Student Documentation

Overview

As a student, Cloud VCL allows you to create Virtual Environments as predefined by your instructors. You will be able to interact with it using an HTML5 console providing keyboard, video and mouse through a web browser.

Your instructors will be able to enter your environment and see your work in real time.

Note: Cloud VCL does not track progress or completion of your assignments. Make sure to follow instructions provided for your assignment.

Introduction

When you first access Cloud VCL, you may not see any assignments yet. They become visible between the dates defined by your instructor. You can, however, go to the Courses page and confirm that see the classes you are enrolled in (which use Cloud VCL). If you don't see your Course, you won't be able to work on Assignments in them. Make sure you see all Courses you expect to be part of in the system.

Launching a Virtual Environment

To launch an Environment, navigate to the Assignments page and click on the name of the Assignment you wish to launch an Environment for. Then click LAUNCH A NEW ENVIRONMENT FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT and wait for the Environment to be ready, which may take several minutes. You will be redirected to the access for that environment.

If you close the website, the Environment will continue working and you will be able to reconnect at a later time until the asssignment ends. Your environment will then be automatically deleted. You may delete and recreate your environment at any time.

Using a Virtual Machine (VM)

After launching and loading an Environment, one or more Virtual Machines with pre-loaded operating systems will be ready to use. To switch between VMs, click on the name of one on the green navigation bar between the console and the main navigation bar.

When you see the console with the screen of your VM, you may not be able to type in it until you click on the gray bar with "Connected to..." text on it.

The KVM console (NoVNC HTML5) may not always work properly in Chrome browser. It typically slows down or hangs the browser window. If you experience the issue, try using Firefox.

If login credentials apply to your environment, they will be available above the console on your screen. An IP address typically will be shown so you may be able to log in directly via SSH or RDP client, depending on the OS installed.

You can load the console in full screen mode by selecting OPEN CONSOLE IN FULL SCREEN MODE. You may also be able to view the log of the console's screen via OPEN CONSOLE LOG button.

Deleting a Virtual Environment

You can delete an Environment from Assignment list. Click DELETE YOUR ENVIRONMENT. Upon doing so, you will be directed to a confirmation page. Click DELETE IRREVERSIBLY to permanently delete that Environment and all of the Virtual Machines that belong to it.

You are free to delete an Environment once you no longer need it (to free up resources), but make sure to save proof of the work you've done before deleting an Environment because all progress will be lost upon doing so.